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Greek market cheer after creditors OK loan, eye debt relief

Greece’s government borrowing costs are at a six-month low and Athens stocks are up after international creditors approved a substantial batch of bailout loans for the debt-crippled country.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond was just above 7 percent Wednesday. And the main stock index on the Athens exchange was up 0.5 percent in late midday trading.

In a meeting in Brussels that ended before dawn Wednesday, finance ministers from the 19 eurozone countries approved Greece’s latest austerity and reform measures, a process that was first meant to have been concluded last October.

That paved the way for the ministers to approve the payout of loans worth 10.3 billion euros ($11.5 billion), in two installments by October, to Greece. They also further discussed how to lighten Greece’s debt load.